Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An chilling spectral horror tale from narrative craftsman / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an timeless curse when outsiders become victims in a cursed experiment. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking saga of staying alive and primordial malevolence that will resculpt fear-driven cinema this scare season. Visualized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and shadowy cinema piece follows five people who awaken confined in a cut-off wooden structure under the aggressive manipulation of Kyra, a female presence occupied by a timeless sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be shaken by a audio-visual outing that merges gut-punch terror with folklore, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a legendary pillar in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is reversed when the demons no longer come from an outside force, but rather within themselves. This symbolizes the haunting facet of each of them. The result is a edge-of-seat cognitive warzone where the intensity becomes a soul-crushing push-pull between purity and corruption.


In a bleak natural abyss, five souls find themselves caught under the sinister aura and domination of a mysterious female figure. As the cast becomes defenseless to resist her grasp, abandoned and attacked by spirits unimaginable, they are pushed to confront their darkest emotions while the time without pause draws closer toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion escalates and alliances shatter, urging each individual to scrutinize their values and the principle of freedom of choice itself. The hazard magnify with every heartbeat, delivering a paranormal ride that connects supernatural terror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to uncover basic terror, an power that predates humanity, working through emotional vulnerability, and exposing a curse that tests the soul when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra meant channeling something rooted in terror. She is ignorant until the demon emerges, and that change is terrifying because it is so intimate.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for public screening beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving households in all regions can experience this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original promo, which has pulled in over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, delivering the story to viewers around the world.


Be sure to catch this bone-rattling fall into madness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to survive these fearful discoveries about inner darkness.


For bonus footage, making-of footage, and reveals directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s decisive shift: 2025 U.S. lineup braids together old-world possession, Indie Shockers, and brand-name tremors

Spanning fight-to-live nightmare stories infused with primordial scripture and extending to canon extensions in concert with acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become the most complex paired with precision-timed year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. major banners lay down anchors through proven series, in tandem streaming platforms crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs set against ancient terrors. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is propelled by the kinetic energy of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween holding the peak, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, but this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, thus 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige terror resurfaces

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal Pictures leads off the quarter with an audacious swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in an immediate now. With Leigh Whannell at the helm featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. timed for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer wanes, Warner’s slate releases the last chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

After that, The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retrograde shiver, trauma centered writing, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The follow up digs further into canon, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, bridging teens and legacy players. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Economy, maximum dread

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No swollen lore. No legacy baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trend Lines

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Season Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming chiller cycle: entries, filmmaker-first projects, And A brimming Calendar Built For screams

Dek: The brand-new horror calendar crams from day one with a January wave, thereafter runs through summer corridors, and carrying into the holidays, combining name recognition, creative pitches, and strategic counterplay. Studios and platforms are focusing on cost discipline, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that convert horror entries into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the predictable release in studio lineups, a vertical that can lift when it catches and still insulate the exposure when it does not. After the 2023 year demonstrated to top brass that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can command audience talk, 2024 maintained heat with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The carry fed into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets demonstrated there is demand for multiple flavors, from continued chapters to standalone ideas that carry overseas. The upshot for 2026 is a slate that feels more orchestrated than usual across the field, with intentional bunching, a mix of familiar brands and original hooks, and a renewed priority on big-screen windows that power the aftermarket on PVOD and SVOD.

Insiders argue the genre now functions as a utility player on the schedule. Horror can open on nearly any frame, deliver a grabby hook for marketing and vertical videos, and outstrip with crowds that appear on previews Thursday and hold through the sophomore frame if the entry delivers. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 setup indicates certainty in that model. The year kicks off with a busy January stretch, then exploits spring through early summer for counterprogramming, while holding room for a October build that flows toward the fright window and into November. The arrangement also illustrates the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and streaming partners that can platform and widen, build word of mouth, and scale up at the inflection point.

Another broad trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. Big banners are not just pushing another chapter. They are looking to package connection with a specialness, whether that is a typeface approach that conveys a reframed mood or a casting pivot that links a latest entry to a early run. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing hands-on technique, real effects and grounded locations. That pairing gives 2026 a confident blend of recognition and discovery, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount leads early with two marquee bets that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a relay and a foundation-forward character-focused installment. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a fan-service aware treatment without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a trailer cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a summer relief option, this one will chase mainstream recognition through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick pivots to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three differentiated bets. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tidy, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man installs an AI companion that grows into a fatal companion. The date lines it up at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to bring back strange in-person beats and micro spots that fuses devotion and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title drop to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His entries are presented as director events, with a opaque teaser and a follow-up trailer set that define feel without revealing the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, practical-first treatment can feel big on a efficient spend. Frame it as a splatter summer horror surge that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio launches two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is positioning as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both fans and casuals. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around setting detail, and creature work, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by textural authenticity and archaic language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on predictable routes. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that expands both premiere heat and viewer acquisition in the downstream. Prime Video combines licensed films with worldwide buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using timely promos, seasonal hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on overall cume. Netflix retains agility about own-slate titles and festival acquisitions, scheduling horror entries near launch and staging as events premieres with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a staged of targeted theatrical exposure and quick platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with prestige directors or marquee packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 sequence with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, updated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a big-screen first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the October weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then working the holiday corridor to move out. That positioning has helped for craft-driven horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception prompts. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using targeted theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Series vs standalone

By count, 2026 tilts in favor of the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the package is familiar enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Past-three-year patterns outline the approach. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not foreclose a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel new when they angle differently and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, permits marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror point to a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers atmosphere and fear rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for red-band excess, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster work and world-building, which play well in booth activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that explode in larger rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid bigger brand plays. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Pre-summer months build the summer base. Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on have a peek here August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a opaque tease strategy and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s AI companion becomes something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss scramble to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order reverses and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to terror, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting narrative that refracts terror through a child’s unreliable internal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a unlucky family snared by past horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBA. Production: active. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and primal menace. Rating: pending. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-sequenced in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can capture a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, acoustics, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is name recognition where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.